Government to Blame for School Bus Driver Shortage

Has your child been affected by the school bus driver shortage in Toronto?

Blame the Ontario Government.

That’s who Unifor Local 4268 is pointing the finger of blame at since the first day of school this week, when thousands of students were left without transportation.

Toronto’s public and Catholic school boards say this week’s crisis was caused by a sudden, unexpected shortage of school bus drivers.

Unifor president Debbie Montgomery has been anticipating a problem like this. She claims that Ontario’s current method of handling school bus contracts is unreliable, and has sparked a race to the bottom as companies outbid one another just to get their hands on a contract.

Unfortunately, the successful low bids ultimately end up harming the drivers on the payroll. Many have reported being underpaid, and are burdened with duties that they were never trained to handle.

Should Queen’s Park review its “request for proposals” approach that has allegedly created this week’s maelstrom?